Rewind: Somerset v Warwickshire, 1991

Warwickshire's visit to Somerset in 1991 produced one of the great County Championship matches - and the two most abiding memories of it for Jason Ratcliffe, who scored two half-centuries in the game, are of its first and last hours.

tomrawlings

2022-04-26T06:00:00.000Z

The Bears arrived in Somerset locked in a two-horse race for the title with leaders Essex. Andy Lloyd's side needed to beat the westcountrymen and hope that Essex faltered against Middlesex at Chelmsford.

Lloyd's men did their bit, just about, after an incredible last day which saw Somerset, chasing a mammoth 409 to win, finally bowled out for 403. It was a sensational finale to the season, though the Bears' title aspirations had actually been scuppered way back before lunch on the first day.

Ratcliffe recalls: "We had to win and Essex had to lose and, after we won the toss, Andy Moles and I opened the batting and started well. We had about 60 on the board in not much more than an hour.

"That was disappointing, but all that was left for us to do was have some fun. It had been a great season, and we had played some really positive cricket and great cricket under Lloydy, so we all just thought, 'right let's just enjoy this last game.'

"And we did. It was a belter of a pitch, as it always was at Taunton in those days, and turned out to be an amazing match."

Warwickshire made 376 in their first innings (Ratcliffe 61, Lloyd 69, Dominic Ostler 79) to which Somerset replied with 289, Allan Donald taking six for 84 - high-class fast bowling in excellent batting conditions.

Leading by 87, the Bears followed up with 321 for six (Ratcliffe 84, Ostler 58, Dermot Reeve 57), to set Somerset a victory target of 409 in a minimum of 122 overs.

A very tall order, even on a good batting wicket...but they had a right go at it.

Chris Tavare, renowned for snail-paced scoring during his England career, outlined his team's positive intent on the final morning with a scintillating 85. Richard Harden added 68 and Graham Rose a violent 55 and all day Somerset kept themselves in the equation...224 for three, 320 for five, 382 for seven.

Then 387 for nine and last pair Neil Mallender and David Graveney had 22 to find. They added 16 before Graveney was bowled by Paul Booth, the left-arm spinner's fourth wicket, with 11 balls left,

"It was a fantastic finish," said Ratcliffe. "It would have been one of the biggest chases ever in first class cricket and they took the game into the last hour. Tavare, who had a reputation as a blocker, played brilliantly. He smashed it and Harden and Rose also played well and suddenly were thinking 'we're gonna lose this game' but then Boothy winkled out the last two wickets.